Deadline to submit entry for consideration is just weeks away
We heard you, South Florida.
With lockdowns and COVID, it’s not the easiest time to launch a startup. Or to keep one moving, you told us.
To make life a wee bit easier, we’ve broadened the window for entry in the Miami Herald’s 2021 Startup Pitch Competition’s Community and FIU tracks.
The competition is open to South Floridabased startups founded — this is the new part! — no later than Jan. 1, 2016. All must be based in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach or Monroe counties.
The Startup Pitch Competition has two tracks.
In the Community Track, entries must be for-profit businesses with a minimum viable product; the companies must be less than five years old.
Enter, and your plan could be reviewed by our panel of well-connected judges and investors, including chef Marcus Samuelsson, Shutterstock founder Jon Oringer and investor David Blumberg, along with some of the region’s savviest tech stalwarts.
All Community finalists also will receive pitch coaching by Melissa Krinzman, co-founder of locally based investors Krillion Ventures. In the FIU Track, entries can be ideas or actual businesses less than five years old. The track is open only to students, alumni and faculty of FIU. The track is sponsored by Florida International University College of
Business.
FIU Track judges come from the FIU community.
All have been judging for several years and bring a wealth of experience that can help a team prepare for success.
As always, winners will be profiled in the Miami Herald’s Business Monday.
The deadline for all entries is March 2, at
11:59 p.m.
Full rules and tips for both tracks are available at miamiherald.com/news/ business/business-planchallenge/.
A one-stop-shop website aimed at matching Black professionals with tourism business opportunities just went live.
The Black Tourism Talent Directory features profiles of Black businesses, professionals and students and encourages destination marketing organizations, travel brands, associations and media to connect with them for employment opportunities.
The site is the brainchild of Stephanie Jones, owner of Cultural Heritage Alliance Tours and founder of the National Blacks in Travel and Tourism Collaborative. Jones hopes that the site can help level the playing field for Black professionals
in the tourism industry.
“We don’t want them to continue to say we can’t find black talent,” she said in a recent interview.
In April, the National
Blacks in Travel and Tourism Collaborative plans to expand the website to include training for Black professionals and small business to make sure they are “tourism ready.” Jones hopes that Black business owners who have not previously thought of their businesses as part of the tourism industry will take advantage of the training during what for most people is a lull due to COVID-19.
“There’s still way too many of our Black businesses that are not on the radar,” she said. “This is our window of opportunity to get prepared to resume and rebuild. We can’t afford for this industry to remain the same or to revert back.”
The website is free to use for Black professionals, businesses and students. Companies can sign up for an annual membership for $499.
Jones placed second in the 2020 Miami Herald Startup Pitch Competition FIU Track for Culture onShore, a soon-to-debut online marketplace for cultural heritage tours and activities that are led by local tour guides.